What made Ponyo so wonderful is that, after all the pomp and excess of Spirited Away and especially the utterly forgettable Howl's Moving Castle, Miyazaki returns to his roots. I watched this movie in a theatre in Japan when it came out last Summer and, despite my Japanese rustiness, found it completely captivating. It does for the ocean what Totoro did for the forests and really shows that Miyazaki can still just construct a simple, charming yet surprisingly nuanced family film.
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Ponyo
What made Ponyo so wonderful is that, after all the pomp and excess of Spirited Away and especially the utterly forgettable Howl's Moving Castle, Miyazaki returns to his roots. I watched this movie in a theatre in Japan when it came out last Summer and, despite my Japanese rustiness, found it completely captivating. It does for the ocean what Totoro did for the forests and really shows that Miyazaki can still just construct a simple, charming yet surprisingly nuanced family film.
August 18, 2009 at 5:32 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )